News & Events

When the founders of the American Republic declared independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776, one of the major tasks they took on was the cre­ation of a coinage for the new nation. “Cap­ping Lib­erty: The Inven­tion of a Numis­matic Iconog­ra­phy for the New Amer­i­can Repub­lic,” which opens on Saturday, March 3, in the Leonard L. Mil­berg Exhi­bi­tion Gallery, charts the gen­e­sis and evo­lu­tion of the iconog­ra­phy of Amer­i­can coinage by show­cas­ing coins, medals, ban­knotes, and related books, man­u­scripts, and graphic arts from the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.

1792 “half disme,” the first coin minted by the United States government under the Constitution

On Sunday, May 6, the noted scholar of American colonial coinage, Louis Jordan, of the University of Notre Dame, will give a public lecture entitled “Transformations in Numismatic Iconography during the American Revolution,” in conjunction with the exhibition. The lecture, which is open to the public without charge, will be held at 4 p.m. in 101 McCormick Hall on the Princeton Campus. It will be preceded at 2:30 by a Curatorial Tour of the exhibition in Firestone Library by Alan M. Stahl, Princeton’s Curator of Numismatics, and will be followed by a reception. Additional curatorial tours will be held on Sunday, March 25, and Thursday, May 31, both at 2:30 p.m.

“Capping Liberty” will be on display through July 8, 2012, in the Leonard L. Milberg Gallery of Firestone Library, Princeton University. Hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., closed holidays. The exhibition website can be found at the following URL: http://rbsc.princeton.edu/capping-liberty

Further information can be obtained from Alan Stahl, Curator of Numismatics at astahl@princeton.edu or (609) 258-9127.

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“A Fine Addition: New & Notable Acquisitions in Princeton’s Special Collections” highlights recent additions to the holdings of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, including the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, as well as the Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology. The exhibition is on view through August 5 in the Main Gallery of the Firestone Library.

Vesalius, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 1543.

One highlight among many on display is a copy of Andreas Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica, first published in Basel in 1543 (read more about the recent acquisition of the first and second edition here). At the official opening on Sunday, April 22, Dr. Eugene Flamm ’58,  Jeffrey P. Bergstein Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, will highlight Princeton’s recent anatomical and phrenological acquisitions with a talk investigating “Observational and Imaginary Anatomy.” The lecture at 2:30 p.m. in Betts Auditorium will be followed by a reception in the Main Gallery. The exhibition and its related events are free and open to the public thanks to the generous support of the Friends of the Princeton University Library. Continue reading →